In a nutshell

I always struggle with journal writing because I never stay on top of it, so then the further behind I get, the less I want to do it.  Well, blogging is no different.  So here is my sad attempt at getting caught up.

We have been potting training Roxey for about a month now.  I know it is young, and I can't say that I was on board, but Roxey sure wanted to go on the potty and wear underwear, then Jordan bought her some princess figures which I didn't want to just give her (I'm mean and already make her do chores to earn things!).  So I bit the bullet and formulated a plan.  On the first day, she got a figurine every time she went on the potty.  Then after that, we had three toilet magnets that she had to earn before getting the next figurine.  Well, she is doing awesome; however, she has had some issues with diarrhea that has caused us to use pull-ups which I hear is a cardinal sin in the potty training world.  Oh well, she'll get there soon enough.  For now I think she is doing great even though it is taking a little bit longer and the other day she even asked to go to the potty to throw up, so that was awesome!  No clean up.

As for my church calling, things have been a little busy.  My counselor that was in charge of Youth Conference approached me 3 weeks before to say that she felt she needed to be released because their family decided to put their house up for sale.  I could respect that; however, not a whole lot had been done by way of planning it, so there were a lot of sleepless nights as my brain couldn't stop thinking about the fun to be had.  The theme was Treasure the Truth- Helaman 5:8.

Pictures from when we went to scope things out at Brigham City

Let me in!

For Youth Conference, we went up to Brigham City and toured the Tabernacle and walked around the new temple being built.  Then we ate lunch at an awesome park that I had found previously.  After that was my favorite activity, we played Frisbee golf.  I gave each team a bag with score cards, golf pencils, a Book of Mormon and little loot bags.  They had to work as a team to get their frisbee to the hole, read a scripture and then use words from the scripture to help them complete a secret message that led to their treasure.  Once they got to the treasure, they each got candy, glow in the dark necklaces, telescopes, compasses, rings, and a bandana that I ironed on Treasure the Truth to the front.  The girls then sat at a table and decorated theirs while the boys played some weird sport.  Each were happy.

Brigham City Tabernacle (Inside)

My cute YW (outside of the tabernacle)

We made these awesome signs to have at our campground of all their favorite scriptures and Jordan made this sign that greeted everyone to our campsite.  He of course went above and beyond by hiding pictures within the picture that once we had it blown up weren't as hard to find :).  Oh well!

Once at our campsite, I had a craft table where they could make their own gold plate (so fun and easy, could be a great family night activity), a treasure map or decorate their bandanas some more.  We also had a volleyball net which was a hit.  Next we assigned each youth a character from the Book of Mormon to read about and then report back giving a brief summary and telling us a Treasure of Truth that they found as they read alone.  It was awesome and a great way to summarize the Book of Mormon all together.

Me pretending to enjoy camping!

Later I gave a spiritual thought where I ended with giving each of them a small treasure chest we made that had paper gold coins inside.  They then wrote down things that they treasured on one side and then they had to turn it over and think about how they can show that they treasure that blessing more.  Finally that night we had our testimony meeting which was wonderful.  We had four youth there that are not part of our church and they each shared their feelings and one in particular said that he likes how he feels when he is around our youth.  That made me so happy, I know that they each felt the spirit and I hope that it moved all of them to "try a little harder to be a little better".

 The next day we mainly packed up and went back to the park for some awesome water games.  Then we headed home.  Short and sweet and I'm glad it is done!

This was the first time I had EVER been away from Roxey, so I was a little nervous about the fact that the very next weekend Jordan and I left her again in order to go to Vegas.  In both instances she did well while I was away but cried big time once I came back and was super clinging for the next couple of days.  A little annoying at times, but of course made me feel so special and loved!

So on to Vegas!  Jordan got to go over the weekend for a rewards trip due to selling a certain amount of cars.  He was kind enough to buy me a plane ticket so that I could tag along!  We stayed at the Aria and were upgraded to a complimentary suite on the 56th floor.  It was insane!  Bigger than our house!  We had an amazing breakfast with all of the Ken Garff employees that got to go on the trip, then we walked through a Monet exhibit at the Bellagio, drove to see the Las Vegas temple, and also sat by the pool.  This was our sad attempt at keeping the Sabbath day holy!  By night time, it was too hard to be good-we're in Vegas after all :), so we went out to eat at a fancy restaurant and then went to see David Copperfield-living on the wild side I know!  The last time we were in Vegas we saw a Cirque de Sole show and decided to change things up.  Not a good idea, wasn't all too impressed with Copperfield, best to stick with what you know is good.  Anyhow, the trip was short and we didn't get a whole lot of alone time since we hung out with co-workers, but it was a fun getaway.  Jordan loves to spoil me because he figures we don't get to do things like this all too often, so at the very last moment before we needed to catch our flight home, he paid for us to get massages.  Normally I am not down with that, but he forced me and it did feel nice, especially with all the walking I did in heels on the strip the night before. 

Ahhh...just the two of us!